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254 TRIAL OF JOHN W. WEBSTER.
something said about the negative argument. I think it will be apparent,
upon a little consideration and analysis of the testimony, that there is
nothing negative in the argument which I shall draw from the facts
proved here, independent of the teeth.
In the first place, the evidence shows, beyond all question, that the
parts of a human body found in that furnace and in that vault and in
that tea-chest constituted parts of only one human body. This fact is
placed beyond all doubt by that marvellous science and skill so beauti-
fully exhibited to you in the details of the testimony of Dr. Wyman, and
by the testimony of those other intelligent physicians who made the
examination of the body; it is proved by the united and concurrent tes-
timony of all of them. In addition to this, it is evident, from all the
testimony, that these constituted the parts of a body which was not a
subject for dissection. The testimony of Dr. Ainsworth is, that there was
no subject that belonged to the College, missing. He keeps a correct
record, and all his subjects were accounted for. It has not been suggested
that any other person was killed or missing, except Dr. Parkman. And
now take these coincident facts: that here were the mutilated remains
of a human body; that no subject was missing from the dissecting-room;
that no person had died, by violence or otherwise, whose remains were
missing; no living person missing, except Dr. Parkman; and that these
remains are found to bear every point of resemblance, and not a single
point of dissimilarity, in form, age, and size, and in the fact that he wore
false teeth, to the person of Dr. Paxkman; and I ask you,-if anything
can rest on human probabilities,-what is the value and strength of this
argument? Is it negative?
Take the entire community,-ay, the community of the entire country
and the world,-and go through it, and select from it the man who most
resembled Dr. George Parkman: let him be slain; let his remains be
mutilated precisely as these were mutilated, preserving no more than
were preserved of these; and the chances are as millions to one,-ay,
you cannot calculate the chances,-that, upon the remains of that person,
or such portions of them as correspond to those found here, although there
might be entire resemblance in most particulars, there still would be, to
the searching eye of friendship and of long acquaintanceship, some one
little point of dissimilarity:-and one such little point would be just as
fatal as if there were no resemblance at all. Yet here you find, from the
testimony of the physicians, from the testimony of Mr. Shaw, of Dr.
Strong, and others who examined them and drew their conclusions at the
time, that they saw no reason to doubt their being Dr. Parkman's remains,
before Dr. Keep had ever examined those teeth, or it was known that
Dr. Keep could identify them. I ask you whether their opinions. were not
justified by the facts? I do not say that upon this evidence alone you
would have been called upon to pronounce upon this question of identity;
but I ask you to consider whether all these facts do not reasonably justify
the conclusion, to which his friends arrived, that those were the mortal
remains of Dr. Parkman?
Consider for a moment. Here is a portion of a human body, which has
great peculiarities. There is no doubt about that. Mr. Shaw testifies
to it. Dr. Strong testifies to it. There was the peculiar color, profusion,
and length of hair; the peculiar shape of the jaw, with the fact of wear-
ing false teeth; and the exact similarity in the height of the body.
What are the chances, that, among all these points of resemblance, there
should not be one single point of difference, if they were the remains of
another person? These resemblances may be said to be slight. Well, if
they are, they are many; and a thousand threads, all running in one
direction, and not one running counter to them, though they are as
slight as the finest filaments of gossamer ever woven in the morning
sunlight, yet by their very number and direction may be strong enough
to draw us irresistibly to the conclusion to which they lead. Why, Gen-
tlemen, of what is the cable made, that holds the ship to her moorings?
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